Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 2 > Chapter 18 > Part 2 - Classification

• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Article of commerce: includes but is not limited to any commodity, product, service or output of a service trade, or any product of the soil. See Montana Code 30-14-202
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Assumed business name: means any business name other than the full, true, and correct name of a person. See Montana Code 30-13-201
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Blind bidding: means bidding, negotiating, offering terms, making an invitation to bid, or agreeing to terms for the purpose of entering into a license agreement prior to a trade screening of the motion picture that is the subject of the agreement. See Montana Code 30-14-303
• Business: includes any person, domestic or foreign, engaged in the production, manufacture, distribution, purchasing, or sale of any article of commerce within the state of Montana. See Montana Code 30-14-202
• Business name identifier: means a word or words used by a business entity in its name or title that describes the type or form of its business. See Montana Code 30-13-201
• Buyer: means anyone who gives a consideration for the purchase or use of goods or services. See Montana Code 30-14-502
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Consumer: means a person who purchases or leases goods, services, real property, or information primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. See Montana Code 30-14-102
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Customary: means according to usage. See Montana Code 1-1-206
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of justice created in 2-15-2001. See Montana Code 30-14-102
• Department: means the department of justice provided for in 2-15-2001. See Montana Code 30-14-202
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Distributor: means any person engaged in the business of renting, selling, or licensing motion pictures to exhibitors. See Montana Code 30-14-303
• Documentary material: means the original or a copy of any book, record, report, memorandum, paper, communication, tabulation, map, chart, photograph, mechanical transcription, or other tangible document or recording. See Montana Code 30-14-102
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Exhibitor: means any person engaged in the business of operating a theater in this state. See Montana Code 30-14-303
• Female: means a member of the human species who, under normal development, has XX chromosomes and produces or would produce relatively large, relatively immobile gametes, or eggs, during her life cycle and has a reproductive and endocrine system oriented around the production of those gametes. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Gift certificate: means a record, including a gift card or stored value card, that is provided for paid consideration and that indicates a promise by the issuer or seller of the record that goods or services will be provided to the possessor of the record for the value that is shown on the record or contained within the record by means of a microprocessor chip, magnetic stripe, bar code, or other electronic information storage device. See Montana Code 30-14-102
• Improper means: includes theft, bribery, misrepresentation, breach or inducement of a breach of a duty to maintain secrecy, or espionage through electronic or other means. See Montana Code 30-14-402
• Indian: means a person who is enrolled or who is a lineal descendant of one enrolled upon an enrollment listing of the bureau of Indian affairs or upon the enrollment listing of a recognized Indian tribe, domiciled in the United States. See Montana Code 30-14-601
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Knowingly: means only a knowledge that the facts exist which bring the act or omission within the provisions of this code. See Montana Code 1-1-204
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• License agreement: means any contract between a distributor and an exhibitor for the exhibition of a motion picture by the exhibitor in this state. See Montana Code 30-14-303
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Lineal descendant: Direct descendant of the same ancestors.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Market area: means either a city in Montana or a city in any of the 11 western states that prohibits blind bidding. See Montana Code 30-14-303
• Misappropriation: means :

  (a)acquisition of a trade secret of another by a person who knows or has reason to know that the trade secret was acquired by improper means; or

  (b)disclosure or use of a trade secret of another without express or implied consent by a person who:

  (i)used improper means to acquire knowledge of the trade secret;

  (ii)at the time of disclosure or use, knew or had reason to know that the person's knowledge of the trade secret was:

  (A)derived from or through a person who had used improper means to acquire it;

  (B)acquired under circumstances giving rise to a duty to maintain its secrecy or limit its use; or

  (C)derived from or through a person who owed a duty to the person seeking relief to maintain its secrecy or limit its use; or

  (iii)before a material change of the person's position, knew or had reason to know that it was a trade secret and that knowledge of it had been acquired by accident or mistake. See Montana Code 30-14-402

• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• overhead expense: includes all costs of doing business incurred in the conduct of a business and includes but is not limited to the following items of expense:

  (a)labor (including salaries of executives and officers);

  (b)rent;

  (c)interest on borrowed capital;

  (d)depreciation;

  (e)selling cost;

  (f)maintenance of equipment;

  (g)delivery costs;

  (h)credit losses;

  (i)all types of licenses;

  (j)taxes;

  (k)insurance and advertising. See Montana Code 30-14-202

• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Person: means any individual, partnership, corporation, limited partnership, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or other association. See Montana Code 30-13-201
• Person: means natural persons, corporations, trusts, partnerships, incorporated or unincorporated associations, and any other legal entity. See Montana Code 30-14-102
• Person: includes any person, partnership, firm, corporation, joint-stock company, or other association engaged in business within this state. See Montana Code 30-14-202
• Person: means a natural person, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision or agency, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Montana Code 30-14-402
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal property: means money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Personal solicitation: means any attempt by a seller to sell goods or services when either the seller or a person acting for the seller contacts the buyer by telephone or in person other than at the place of business of the seller, except:

  (a)an attempted sale in which the buyer, prior to the attempted sale, personally knows the identity of the seller, the name of the business, firm, or organization that the seller represents, and the identity or kinds of goods or services offered for sale;

  (b)an attempted sale in which the buyer has initiated the contact with the seller;

  (c)an attempted sale of a newspaper subscription in which the seller is a minor engaged in both the delivery and the sale of the newspaper;

  (d)an attempted sale of an insurance policy; or

  (e)an attempted sale of more than $5,000 of goods or services that are not primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. See Montana Code 30-14-502

• Personal solicitation sale: means the purchase, lease, or rental of any goods or services following a personal solicitation by the seller or a person acting for the seller if the buyer is required to give consideration in excess of $25 in cash or credit. See Montana Code 30-14-502
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Possessor: means a natural person who has physical control over a gift certificate. See Montana Code 30-14-102
• Printing: means the act of reproducing a design on a surface by any process. See Montana Code 1-1-203
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Seller: means a lessor, renter, or anyone offering goods or services for consideration, including an assignee of a seller. See Montana Code 30-14-502
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Several: means two or more. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Sex: means the organization of the body parts and gametes for reproduction in human beings and other organisms. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• subscription: includes the mark of a person who cannot write if the person's name is written near the mark by another person who also signs that person's own name as a witness. See Montana Code 1-1-203
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Theater: means any establishment in which motion pictures are exhibited regularly to the public for a charge. See Montana Code 30-14-303
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trade screening: means the showing of a motion picture by a distributor in the market area. See Montana Code 30-14-303
• Trade secret: means information or computer software, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process, that:

  (a)derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by other persons who can obtain economic value from its disclosure or use; and

  (b)is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy. See Montana Code 30-14-402

• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Vendor: includes not only any person acting as one known generally and legally as a vendor but also any person who performs work upon, renovates, alters, or improves any personal property belonging to another person. See Montana Code 30-14-202
• Willfully: when applied to the intent with which an act is done or omitted, means a purpose or willingness to commit the act or make the omission referred to. See Montana Code 1-1-204
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Writ: means an order in writing issued in the name of the state or of a court or judicial officer. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• Writing: includes printing. See Montana Code 1-1-203